Jaap van Zweden is a master builder who ‘hears a vision’ for an orchestra and then works to achieve it.  His artistic mastery has served him and the orchestras he has guided in good stead.  Included among these would be his recent past music directorships: the New York Philharmonic where he championed and then, in 2022, inaugurated the transformation of New York’s David Geffen Hall; Hong Kong Philharmonic which he led to international prominence; and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra which earned national acclaim under his direction.  His current positions include becoming Music Director in 2024 of the Seoul Philharmonic, as well as starting in 2025 as Taiwan’s Evergreen Symphony Orchestra Artist-in-Residence.  In the fall of 2026, he adds Music Director of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France. 

Widely recognized on three continents, Jaap van Zweden appears as guest with, in Europe, Amsterdam’s Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, the Staatskapelle Berlin, the Orchestre de Paris, Vienna Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, and London Symphony Orchestra, and, in the United States, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, The Cleveland Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and other distinguished ensembles.

Among Jaap van Zweden’s over 50 recordings is the Hong Kong Philharmonic in first-ever performances in Hong Kong of Wagner’s Ring Cycle, released on the Naxos label. To this is added the New York Philharmonic recordings of the World Premiere of David Lang’s prisoner of the state (2020), and Julia Wolfe’s Grammy-nominated Fire in my mouth (2019), both released on the Decca Gold label. Plus, his acclaimed performances of Lohengrin, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, and Parsifal — the last of which earned him the prestigious Edison Award for Best Opera Recording in 2012 — are available on CD and DVD.

Born in Amsterdam, Jaap van Zweden, at age 19 while still a student at Juilliard, was appointed the youngest-ever concertmaster of Amsterdam’s Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and began his conducting career almost 20 years later, in 1996. In April 2023, van Zweden received the Concertgebouw Prize, for exceptional contributions to that organization’s artistic profile. He remains Conductor Emeritus of the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra and Honorary Chief Conductor of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, where he was Chief Conductor (2005–2013); he also served as Chief Conductor of the Royal Flanders Orchestra (2008–2011), and as Music Director of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra (2008–2018) and New York Philharmonic (2018-2024). Under his leadership, the Hong Kong Philharmonic (2012-2024) was named Gramophone’s Orchestra of the Year in 2019. Van Zweden was named Musical America’s 2012 Conductor of the Year and was the subject of a  CBS 60 Minutes profile in 2018.

In 1997, Jaap van Zweden and his wife, Aaltje, established the Papageno Foundation to support families of children with autism. Today, over twenty-five years later, the Foundation has grown into a multifaceted organization that focuses on the development of children and young adults with autism. In addition to in-home music therapy through a national network of qualified music therapists in the Netherlands, the Foundation has opened several Papageno Houses for young adults with autism to live, work, and participate in the community.